The Girl Called: 'The Book'
by Magyk of Fyre
Summary: Mary and her brother Matthew have moved with their parents to New York from Australia. The siblings are excited about their new life but Matthew suspects something is wrong with her sister. He has noticed strange things that happen when she reads any kind of book she can get her hands on. Although Mary might have a secret, Matthew's life in Australia wasn't too pleasant either...


Mary stood there, looking at the lizard running up the wall in front of her. She had no idea why because she still had jet lag from the long flight to New York. She looked around her, at all the tall buildings looming above her.

"Come on Matthew, before we have to go back to the house again!", Matthew followed his sister and she found the park only minutes later. She ran away to look around so Matthew walked over to a park seat and sat down.

He started to think about his life; the secret he had kept hidden from his family for ten years. He was worried about his sister; he had noticed things that happened when she read a book or textbook. He put his sister's issues to one side and replayed the events that happened ten years ago when he used to live in Australia:

I was walking to a library from my home in the city of Sydney one morning when I came across a homeless man sitting on an old piece of carpet on the side of the pathway. I went over to where the man was sitting to ask if he was alright and bent down to give him some money. The man had a hood over his head so I couldn't see his face. Just as I was about to lift my arm up again he grabbed my arm with such force that I fell onto the concrete beside him. I looked around to see if somebody could help me but strangely, everybody had disappeared; not even a bird could be seen! I tried to pull my arm away and get up but the hooded man kept an unsually firm grip on it and so I was helpless. I took deep breaths to try to calm myself down while I thought about what I could do to escape.

Suddenly, the man using his other hand, pushed my jumper sleeve up my arm so that my skin was visible. He then used that hand to rummage around in his pocket for something I could only hope wouldn't knock me out. He pulled out his hand which was now holding a needle filled with a clear, yellow substance. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't daydreaming but unfortunately, the nightmare was real!

He raised the needle up and placed the injecting tip on the surface of my skin, still keeping a firm grip on my arm to keep me from moving. I felt a slight prick as the needle tip went into my skin. I was so horrified by the situation! What could I do? Struggle against the figure or call for help?

As I looked at my arm I saw that the man had pushed the needle all the way into my skin; the yellow substance had most likely been injected into my bloodstream!

It was only a dull pain to begin with, but after a few minutes had gone by and the man had pulled the needle out of my arm, it was then that I started to yell out in pain and agony. I thrashed my head into the direction where the man was but as I looked, I saw that he had vanished!

"What kind of a person would do this to child?" I thought as I curled up into a ball on the hard concrete in pain. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the pain engulfing me. I heard noises and movement around me and to what seemed like days later, I opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital bed.

"Where am I?" I thought to myself.

"You are in a hospital for specialised cases." A voice replied.

The voice sounded like is was coming from inside my head, but it was not my voice of reason talking to me...

I jumped and looked to my left as two people, a man with tanned skin and doctor's clothes on and the other a woman with dark skin, also wearing doctor's clothes, entered the room, the sound of their footsteps bouncing off the walls. They looked like normal people but I could tell that there was something different about them. From the way they walked with caution, it was almost as if they were meeting the Prime Minister in person (or President in America's case). It was as if they were proud, too. But proud of what? Proud of working in a hospital? Surely not! Proud of eachother? Possibly. Pround of me? No way!

As they continued to walk towards my bed, their faces, strangely, had a look of relief on them. But why? What was there to be relieved about?

"Why, because we thought you'd never make it Matthew." It was the voice I had heard from before! Inside my head!


End file.
